<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Ink by Roseyraconteur24</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29774757">Ink</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roseyraconteur24/pseuds/Roseyraconteur24'>Roseyraconteur24</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Nobetawedielikemen, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:33:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29774757</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roseyraconteur24/pseuds/Roseyraconteur24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When the first few lines of ink began to appear on his wrist when he was four, he thought he was actually sick.</p><p>Because the ink was blue.</p><p>Nobody had blue ink.  It was always black.  Always lines, never anything more complex.</p><p>But Poe's ink was blue.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Poe Dameron/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ink</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When the first few lines of ink began to appear on his wrist when he was four, he thought he was actually sick.</p><p>	Because the ink was blue.</p><p>	Nobody had blue ink.  It was always black.  Always lines, never anything more complex.</p><p>	But Poe's ink was blue.</p><p>	Blue–like the sky when the moons on Yavin-4 were full–blue.</p><p>	The first tattoo that appeared was of some sort of drawing implement that no one recognized.  It was small, no more than a few inches, and it had a small shadow beneath it.</p><p>	The Medical droids said there'd never been a case of defective Soul Markings before.</p><p>	He was the first.  The Text book case.</p><p>	His parents didn't know what to do.  There wasn't exactly a process for how to raise a child whose Soul Marks were in color.</p><p>	He remembered thinking the blue was nice.  It felt special, rather than the dull 2 dimensional images that most people had appear on their skin.</p><p>	He could almost reach out and grab it, right from his skin.</p><p>	His Father bought him long-sleeved shirts, just in case he felt the need to cover them.</p><p>	He didn't feel the need.</p><p>	He got teased in preschool the following year, but for all of one day.</p><p>	Because a new color showed up that day.</p><p>	Red.</p><p>	And it was for a large winged lizard that wrapped around his wrist.</p><p>	All of the other kids were so impressed by how real it looked that they didn't have anything else to say about how weird it was.</p><p>	His Soul marks were more unique that anything anyone had ever seen before.  Books with titles he'd never heard of before, in any language, flowers he couldn't find in any of the universal databases, coffee mugs, quotes he couldn't place, and these beautiful, colors painting all of it as though it was alive on his very skin.  Animals that looked like Parnan-Wolves, star constellations that he assumed had to be fictional, because no star map in the universe seemed to hold them.  The aquatic animals confused him, especially the ones that glowed when he turned out the lights in his room.  The watery scenes on one part of his arm giving way to sky where there were birds that no one could give names for.</p><p>	When he was sixteen there was the image of the republic that appeared high up on his arm in orange and black, and he couldn't contain his excitement.  His soulmate was somewhere in the republic, and he was going to find them.</p><p>	He entered the military academy after high-school.  Then the New Republic Air-Force.  A pilot's helmet, in black and orange showed up near the mark for the Republic on his arm.  Whoever his soulmate was, they had a thing for Republic pilots.  He would rub the mark sometimes when yet another girl would try to tell him she could identify the animals and plants that covered both of his arms now in brilliant and beautiful colors.</p><p>	He stopped believing them after a while.</p><p>	It took a few years, but now when some girl made mention that she knew what the things on his arms were, he immediately shut down, and showed her the door.</p><p>	He was twenty-six when he joined the rebellion.</p><p>	By that time he was covering his arms with his uniform, rather than rolling up the sleeves as he did when he was a child.  He didn't show anyone his marks anymore.  He was about the job, and nothing more.  Whoever his soulmate was, they were likely crazy, which was why his marks were full of such fanciful things that couldn't be real.</p><p>	General Organa asked him about it once.  She had know his parents back when he was a child, and had wondered how it was growing up with such unusual marks.</p><p>	"Honestly, I thought the colors were cool," He admitted quietly,"–might just mean my soulmate isn't well though."</p><p>	"How do you figure?"  That caught the General's attention.</p><p>	"Nobody else has soul marks in color that look so real.  The medics when I was a kid thought it meant their mind was broken,"  Poe frowned, shaking his head.  He didn't like talking about this.</p><p>	"Or maybe they just see the world a little differently," She chuckled, "–I didn't know what a Wookiee was until it showed up on my arms."</p><p>	He shrugged.</p><p>	It didn't matter now.</p><p>	War was coming.</p><p>	If he hadn't met his soulmate by now, there was a good change he never would.</p><p>	Years went by.</p><p>	Every-time a new mark showed up in some small corner of his arm he secretly let out a small sigh of relief.  It meant his soulmate was alive.  Somewhere.  At least at the moment.</p><p>	When he was thirty-one, a new mark showed on his other wrist.  Words. </p><p>	<i>Per Adua, ad astra.</i></p><p>	C3PO couldn't translate it, and he knew 35 million languages.</p><p>	"At least it doesn't appear to be Sith, Master Dameron," C3PO tried to comfort him when the news seemed to disappoint.</p><p>	When Leia asked him into her office for a "Discussion" he was suspicious it had something to do with his marks.</p><p>	"I need to see them for a moment.  I know you don't like it, but I have a hunch,"  She smiled warmly.</p><p>	So for the first time in years, he rolled up his sleeves.</p><p>	She smiled when she saw some of the aquatic creatures.</p><p>	Then she took out a small slip of paper from her pocket and held it up to his markings.</p><p>	it was one of the creatures with the long, curling, tendrils.</p><p>	"What?"  He grabbed at the paper, "–where did you get this?"</p><p>	"She calls them 'jellyfish',"  The General chuckled, "–even though they are ironically neither made of jelly, or with tails.  The strands are tentacles.  Apparently give you quite a shock where she's from."</p><p>	"She?"  He could barely breath.</p><p>	"Would you like to meet her?"  The General gave him a warm smile.  He was standing and heading to the door without even realizing he had yet to say 'yes'.</p><p>	The General took him to an old part of the base.</p><p>	"This is where we used to host the council back in the old days.  She needed some room if she was gonna be cooped up for a while," The General explained, "–turns out her mind is a bit different than ours, but not for the reasons you thought."</p><p>	"She's alright?"  He asked, counting the steps he took towards a door at the end of the hallway with four guards in front of it.</p><p>	"Alright is relative.  She's been through something, but she's not ill.  Not broken.  Just...different,"  The General motioned for him to go inside.</p><p>	When he went inside, the first thing he realized was all the colors.  The drawings and paintings that papered the walls of the luxury quarters.  He stood there, staring at things that were so similar to his soul marks that he couldn't speak for several moments.</p><p>	"You lost, soldier?"  A voice asked him.</p><p>	He froze.</p><p>	Turning to glance at the owner.</p><p>	She was beautiful.  She glowed like she'd been out in the sun, and he had half a mind to wonder if that was why some of his markings glowed in the dark as well.  Her hair was pink, her expression was one of wry amusement, and she seemed to be waiting for something.</p><p>	"What?"  He asked, confused.</p><p>	"This area is off-limits.  Do you even have clearance to be in here?"  She asked.</p><p>	"General Organa brought me, she's outside," He motioned to the door stupidly.  Then he saw her arm.  The sleeve on one side was rolled up, wet like she'd been washing something, and he saw the images embedded on her skin there.</p><p>	It was his X-wing.</p><p>	"Hey, you have my–"  He pointed at it.  She looked down, and then back up at him a moment, confused.</p><p>	He rolled up his sleeves and showed her the marks there.</p><p>	"Do you know what these are?"  His voice was small, quiet, like he was expecting her to start giving made up names for things, or worse, to just shrug and tell him 'no'.</p><p>	"Hey," She smiled as she came closer, looking at a few of the images there, "–that's my old Dog."</p><p>	He could feel tears gathering in his eyes as she moved her fingers up his skin, identifying each animal, item and quote he'd ever wondered about with absolute certainty.</p><p>	"Oh, that's my favorite book, it's about Zombies–" She said.</p><p>	"–what.  What are zombies?"  He asked, confused.</p><p>	"The risen dead?  Rotting corpses that stalk and eat humans?"</p><p>	"You have those where you come from?"  He was horrified.</p><p>	"Oh, no, they're made up.  They're a monster."</p><p>	"Then why do you like a book about them?"</p><p>	"It was a book about a monster, a zombie, and how meeting a human girl brings him back to life."</p><p>	"Oh," He liked the sound of that.</p><p>	"And these are Beta fish.  Tiny, colorful little fuckers who like to fight, but they're beautiful to look at.  They actually can't be in fishbowls with other fish because they'll eat them."</p><p>	He learned about so many things that day.  Mostly, he learned about animals, but he also learned about the language that was sometimes on his skin in parts that C3PO couldn't translate.</p><p>	"It's called Latin.  It's an ancient, old, world language where I come from."</p><p>	"You speak it?"  He wondered how many other things she knew.</p><p>	"No, but I like the sayings.  They're inspiring."</p><p>	He learned that <i>Per Auda Ad Astra</i> meant Through hardship you will go to the stars.</p><p>	He asked to see her markings then.</p><p>	She was shy about it.</p><p>	Explained that they'd only been showing up since she'd arrived here.  Leia said it had something to do with soulmates, but you didn't have that where you came from.</p><p>	She showed him her arms.</p><p>	Everything was in color.  There were clouds, sunrises and sunsets, BB8 made several appearances, along with his mother's favorite flower.  His X-wing and an old A-wing made an appearance, along with a few popular sayings in Friesian.</p><p>	"I don't know what these mean," She pointed to the, "I guess I just figured you liked Star Wars and spoke French or something."</p><p>	"Star what?"  he asked.</p><p>	But she merely smiled and shook her head.</p><p>	"They're beautiful," He told her simply, for lack of anything else more true.  She gave him a small, happy grin at his words, and he found something warm and content settling in his chest for the first time since he was a child.  </p><p>	He wondered then if his children would end up with colorful soul marks just like their parents.  Or, would be oddly normal in spite of it?</p><p>	Looking at her tracing curiously over his marks with her fingers, gentle and careful with his skin like it was paper she was desperate not to tear or mar–he knew it didn't matter.</p><p>	He'd take blue ink and <i>her</i> over normal any day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Long time reader, first time poster, so–</p><p>*puts un-beta'd post gently down on altar of fandom*</p><p>–I'll just leave this here.</p><p>~R.R.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>